Midnight
by The Silent Rain
Summary: "The air tonight is cool with a drop of humidity in the air, permeating the stillness that covered the world." A beautiful redhead is sitting by a lake at midnight, waiting to rendezvous with a certain handsome, black-haired rebel who has something to tell her... LJ


MIDNIGHT

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

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A beautiful girl sits at the edge of a lake under the stars. Her shoes sit on the bank next to her as she gazes at the forest across the mirror-like water. Like a dream with fiery-red hair cascading delicately over her slender shoulders, her toes just skim the surface as she sits on the edge of a dock, gliding her fingertips through the water glittering in the light of the crescent moon. She hums a song to herself, a melody that she heard somewhere; perhaps on a London radio station years ago, when she was a child. She loves the way she's breaking nature's silence with her canticle. She loves the way the ever-so-gentle breeze carries her tune on the air as her fingers create the slightest ripples in the glassy water surface.

It is midnight, but it is more than just that. A midnight is typical; it consists of darkness, silence, and nighttime. This is a spring midnight. A spring midnight is all of these wonderful things, yet it is also calm and dewy, an earthly interpretation of the weather in heaven. The air tonight is cool with a drop of humidity in the air, permeating the stillness that covered the world.

Her dulcet voice echoes across the Scottish lake as a tall young man soundlessly walks up behind her, his stride purposeful. She pretends to not notice him, but the smallest smile turns up the corners of her lips. She knows he is there, and she is pleased.

The man kneels down behind her and wraps his arms around her.

"Did you wait for me long, Lily?" he whispers in her ear. Clouds were beginning to gather in the sky.

"I've waited an hour, silly," she says, twisting her elegant, creamy neck so she can face him. "I was worried you'd never come, and someone would catch me out here so late."

He places his lips on that delicate neck as she gazes at him with the emeralds that are her eyes. "You'll forgive me, won't you?" he murmurs in between gentle kisses.

She smiles, pulling her shoes back on with the quietest laugh. "James, I _always _forgive you."

Lily Evans and James Potter stand up and, hand in hand, stroll along the edge of the Black Lake. In the starlight, the water glimmers like a mirror, reflecting the figures of the two seventeen-year-olds walking slowly along it. The night is tranquil.

"So why did you call me out here in the middle of the night?" she asks softly. She fears the worst. She fears that he has called her out here so he can tell her he doesn't want her anymore. That he found some other girl, after all these years he's chased after her.

"Now isn't the time," James replies swiftly. She sees that he's tense about something, but she doesn't know what.

She sighs. "You make me so nervous."

He looks at her and realizes. "No!" he says quickly. "I didn't call you out here to break up with you."

"Then why…?"

He blanches. "In a little. I'll tell you in a little."

Lily rolls her eyes. She loves him, but she never has said it. She's scared he won't feel the same way. What if he thinks she's taking their relationship too fast? It is too risky. She can barely keep it inside, but she knows she has to try, at least for a while.

"There's a place I want to show you," he says suddenly, and she looks at him curiously. "Follow me," he whispers.

And so two figures run, one much taller and stronger than the delicate, gentle other, clutching each other's hand, past the lake, along the edge of the forest, and finally along the path to beautiful Hogsmeade Village that the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry know quite well.

They slow to a walk when they are out of sight from the gigantic castle of their school, saying nothing to one another but still holding hands. After a moment, James pulls her with him off the path and towards the trees of the Forbidden Forest.

"Where are we going?" Lily asks, confusion clouding her green eyes as she peers at him.

"To a place I know," he says simply. There's nothing more to the matter than that.

They walk for a few more minutes, silence between them. She is nervous as she strolls through the darkness with him, wondering how much she should trust him. There is a light, warm mist in the air now.

She gets tenser and tenser as they walk uphill together. It's like something out of a dream. The grass beneath her feet is green and verdant, daisies in the height of their bloom. For a moment, she thinks it mustn't be real. This place that they were walking to, she had never been there before in all of her years. And yet, as James pulled her along, it looked so perfect.

Suddenly, at the top of the hill, James stops.

"This is it," he whispers, as though he is scared to break the silence.

They stood there, together, at the summit. Lily looks around her, and she can see for miles. Hogwarts is visible through the gentle mist, as is Hogsmeade. The mist floats over the lake, far below them now, as the song of quiet birds rings out from the forest, now distant from them.

She sits in the grass, pulling up the daisies at her feet as James watches her. She hasn't said a word.

"Do you like it?" he asks, just as quietly as before.

She looks up and smiles. "It's beautiful, James." She begins weaving the daisy stems together into a crown, but she stops and the breath catches in her throat when she meets his eyes. There's something in his gaze that she just can't define.

James sits down next to her, looking at the ground. "You looked beautiful before."

Lily turns and smiles at him, but he won't look at her. "Thank you."

He takes the daisies from her hands and finishes weaving the crown for her, tying the stems together into a wreath. When he completes it, he places it on her head, finally meeting her eyes and smiling. They share the moment together and she looks exactly like a princess or a fairy, in a delicate white dress and a crown of flowers on in her fire-laced hair.

They look into each other's eyes for what feels like decades, but the time doesn't matter to either of them. It's an immaculate moment, and it is endless.

Until James looks away once more, and the moment ends.

"What is it?" Lily asks, placing her hand on his lightly tanned forearm. He shakes his head gently.

"I want to talk about us," he says slowly.

She raises an eyebrow, moving her hand away. "I thought you weren't breaking up with me."

"I'm not!" he says emphatically. She flinches at the sudden volume of his voice. "I'm not," he says again, softer this time. "I just wanted to know how you feel about…us."

She's taken aback. "Well…I think we're doing just fine."

He sighs and lies back in the grass, staring up at the sky as the mist slowly fades away. "I'm just worried and all, with Voldemort coming to power."

Lily reclines on the grass next to him. "What are we going to do?" she asks, porcelain face turned toward him.

"Fight him, I guess. What other option do we have?" He sighs once more, his expression distant. "It's bad out there, and the man's insane. But people follow him, and before more innocent people get killed, he has to be stopped. It could be anyone that gets killed. People we…love." His voice almost breaks on the last word, and Lily notices.

"Are you scared?" she asks, her voice low.

He laughs almost bitterly. "I guess we all are inside, whether we want to show it or not." The bitterness is replaced by tenderness in his voice. "I don't want to do this fight against him alone, Lily."

She watches him as he stares up at the nighttime sky, glasses sliding on his elegant nose, his sculpted cheekbones casting shadows down his face in the light from the moon. More than anything, at this moment, she wants to tell him that she loves him. But still, she is scared.

"But I'm with you, James," she whispers softly, turning on her side to face him. "You know that."

He looks up, not looking at her still. He cannot fathom how difficult life is going to be. "I love it here, you know. This hill. It's where I go when I want to be alone. When I can't stand to be around Sirius…Remus…Peter. I always liked it better at night than during the day. No one else comes out here. It's like my secret. Our secret." These last two words make Lily shiver. "I could stay here forever."

"It's perfect," she whispers, lightly grazing the daisies encircling her forehead with her fingertips. "You are, too."

He at last turns to meet her eyes, a soft smile on his chiseled features. He looks so much older than seventeen. "I still haven't gotten to what I wanted to talk about."

"What is—"

He cuts her off, his lips meeting hers mid-word as he kisses her. It is gentle, but the passion is there, barely held back. She melts into it as a gentle breeze floats past them. She could last there forever, and every fiber of her being aches for him as he pulls her closer.

After what feels like hours, he breaks the kiss and looks into her bottle-green eyes. This time, his hazel orbs are on fire with determination and intensity.

"What I've been meaning to tell you, my beautiful Lily Evans, is that I love you."

A tiny gasp escapes her lips, and she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him into another kiss. This one is much more heated and passionate than the other, more muted one from moments before. She doesn't want to let it end. She feels that if she lets it, her world will collapse. For now, he is her world, and she cannot let him go.

His lips are soft and full, and her hands run over his strong, smooth shoulders with their sculpted muscles. He has a physique like a statue of a Greek god. Adonis, perhaps, or Apollo. His hands are tousling her hair, and she smiles against his mouth.

Far too soon, though it must have been several minutes, the kiss ends.

They stare into each other for a moment, and at last, Lily speaks.

"I love you too, James."

And at last, she speaks the words of her heart. It is as though she has let open the floodgates of her heart, and she and James have come to one perfect understanding.

They kiss again, and lie in the grass, hand in hand under the stars for hours until the sky begins to lighten with the coming morning. The sky is glowing from black into dark blue, and from dark blue into light.

Together they get up, at last. And together they walk the long way back to the castle, hand in hand, in love.

Those three simple words. "I love you." They are beautiful, and at least for now, the world is perfect.

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_And all I can taste is this moment  
And all I can breathe is your life.  
'Cause sooner or later, it's over;  
I just don't want to miss you tonight._

_-Iris, by Goo Goo Dolls_

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_Author's note:_

_Not quite how I wanted it to turn out, but I thought it was pretty nice =] I may or may not go back and tweak it a bit, but it seemed rather good. Intended to be all sweet and delicate and soft and all of that pretty stuffs. Reviews are appreciated! Also, check out my fic, Little Flower. Thank you all for reading! I hope you liked it. I'm horribly sick with a disgusting mix of post-nasal drip, a sinus infection, and bronchitis. I'm on crazy anti-biotics and missed a ton of school, so brighten my day and leave me a review!_

_Love,  
The Silent Rain_


End file.
